Flower paintings

Hi there!

I know in my last post I said that I would share more from the 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge, but I wanted to share these with you first. This pretty little (5" x 5") piece was a commissioned by one of my good friends ( a brilliant wedding photog) as a gift for another friend of hers. What a special gift, right? 

She told me her friend loves these colors and Chrysanthemums, then we figured out what size to make it. I loved doing this and I think it turned out great! If it wasn't for this commission I might not have ever made a painting that was mostly yellow, green. and white, but I'm sure I will again! And my friend and I decided this was a win-win situation. She didn't have to stress about the perfect gift, she just gave me me the specifics and I took care of the rest.. and then I get paid instead of some store where she'd buy something she wasn't sure about. Total win all around! :-) Yay for smart friends! 

This fun collage above is how I started the mixed media painting. I love doing fun backgrounds, even if you hardly see it when it's done. The photo below is how it looked in phase two as I was starting to paint in the flower. I really like how you can still see the book page through the flower. Maybe I'll do another piece and let it show through more like this.

Now I just want to share one more painted flower with you. I did this over another piece that never felt quite right, so it has great texture from the layers underneath. Taking the old and making it new again can be so rewarding. This one sold on Facebook. It's only 4" x 4" and it's called "Rebirth".

Thanks for stopping by! Have a creative day :-)

xoE

New Mini Abstract Painting

Hi there!

I have so much art to show you, tons to catch up on, but I'll start off small.

This is a sweet mini painting I just did this week.  It's on a 5x5 inch gallery-wrapped canvas.  

I'm running low on my blank canvas stash, but in cleaning my studio recently, I noticed that I have many old pieces that I never finished for various reasons... so I decided to either finish them or completely paint over them and start again.  This is one of the starting over pieces.  I originally did an experimental collage on it that wasn't turning out how I wanted, and I didn't know how to finish it, so it sat unfinished for over a year.  The great thing about using these unfinished canvases is that they already have a great texture to them!  I added to the texture of this by gluing a few more bits of paper down, then painted over most of it with colors that called to me.  I finished it off by drawing and writing on it with a water-soluble pencil, then sealed the whole thing.

It felt good to get one of these unfinished paintings out of a drawer, and give it a new life ... ready to be seen and hung on someones wall!  Now I'm moving on to another unfinished one that's been calling my name!

Two More Water Lily Paintings!

Hiya!  

In the last post I told you I started an "accidental" series of water lilies/lotuses.  I wasn't kidding!  Here's 2 more paintings that I did a few months ago.  Both of these paintings came together fairly quickly and easily.  I love when that happens. 

 I started this first one on a day when I wasn't feeling well, but I had a few hours to myself so I was bent on painting... at least for a few minutes.  So I decided that I would just "start a background" then call it a day.  I grabbed some papers and started to glue them down, and next thing I knew, I was painting over them before the glue even had a chance to dry!  

Then I glued more stuff down and painted straight over it, then painted more, scraped, drew with charcoal, dripped, painted some more...etc....  Then once I stopped and took a step back, the day was almost gone and I had a mostly finished painting (I finished it a few days later) AND I was feeling much better too.  Art therapy!! 

A bit of a different style and different colors for me, and that's I love about it... I was more loose and free with it.  That's one of the things I've been trying to work on with my art is to loosen up more and get more messy and free.  That's hard for a perfectionist, but I'm working on it!

My next painting was started soon after.  This one was modeled after my art journal cover that I showed you a few posts back... right HERE.

For this one I used my beloved Heavy Gel Medium to create all the texture, then added layers of paint and glazes, and gold-leafed the outside edges.

Hopefully you're not sick of waterlilies yet, because more are coming!   I do also have a door painting to finish up, among others too, if I feel a need to change things up, BUT I really am enjoying exploring the beauty and peacefulness of waterlilies.  Heck, if it was good enough for Monet... then why not?

So what subjects are you exploring lately?  Do tell!

RED...Better Late Than Never...?

Last week was red week for The Summer of Color, but I took an involuntary blog break. 

 A nasty bug got me, then my hubby, and now that things are just getting back to "normal",  I'm trying to get caught up.  I didn't get to finish my red piece of art, but I figured since it's  already late I'll just find some red photos to post.   

Any excuse to dig through my stash :-)

The dandelion photo was taken using my son's wagon as the backdrop.

This photo above was taken when we were on our honeymoon in Paris in 2000.  I love the French waiter (who kinda reminds me of Kramer from Sienfeld) in the right foreground.

This one above was taken recently in Pasadena.  I'm not sure why the tree was decorated, but I thought it was fun.  Love the red umbrellas in the background.

And of course I have to throw in a Hipstamatic app photo.

I know I could've just skipped red but I was so excited about it because it's such a great color.  Hope you don't mind.

So now I need to whip up something with purple for this week's Summer of Color.  I hope to make some time soon to get something together for that before the week is up.  

See you then.

Shadow Shot Sunday and WIP

Hello again!  Another week has flown by so quickly!  

I love the movement in these photos created by the iron pergola and it's shadow.  And the textures (you know I love texture!) of the brick wall and flowers contrasted by the smooth, cool flower pots.

Isn't it pretty?  

We walked right past it and I slowed down and turned to my husband and he knowingly said "It's a great day for shadow shots"!  So I grabbed the keys and ran to the car and grabbed the camera to take these.  This is why I have so many darn pictures of Pasadena... because they seem to have loveliness like this around every corner!

To join in with your own shadow shots, hop on over to Hey Harriet.

I'm so sorry that I haven't been posting that often.  I have multiple projects going on right now.  Of course I'll share them with you as I finish them... or maybe even some in progress shots along the way.  Yeah.  Good idea.

 Here's a work in progress that I was working on last night.  It's a large 36"x24".  I had done several textured layers on it months ago, but put it aside to work on other projects.  I got inspired to bring it back out last night (and ignore all the other unfinished projects around it!)  I think it's calling for some gold leaf.  Yeah... it is. 

 I'll be back in the next few days to share more of the happenings around here.  See you then!

Oh, and there's still time to enter my giveaway!!  Go here to enter.